POLL: Quarantine Everyone Without Ebola Immunity, or ....?

It's incredibly costly to fight epidemics and pandemics, and as we're seeing in West Africa, the fight against Ebola has not been very effective.
Cases jumped to over 1300 by Wednesday, and deaths are now over 700 - the disease has spread over 3 countries and into more. Doctors Without Borders
(MSF) has been on the front lines since February - Samaritan's Purse and SIM joined later - but they're all tapped out. At this point, there are 12
CDC advisors and 120 WHO staff helping. But it's nowhere near enough. West Africa only has 2 or 3 hospitals per country, and about 0.04 doctors
per 100,00 people.

SO. The POLL. Please choose a, b, or c - and feel free to add comments at the end.

1. Should we a) keep throwing more money at the problem, b) cut our losses, or c) wait until the epidemic is over before we go take their iron ore,
bauxite, diamonds, gold and uranium - and pray that the Ebola virus is not still in the bats or the soil or wherever it hides?
2. Should we quarantine everyone: a) who has been exposed, or b) does not have any immunity to Ebola?
3. Should we: a) cut them off and let them starve, or b) send some food aid and let the strongest ones fight over the packages?
4. Should we a) shoot anyone who tries to escape, or b) truss 'em up and take 'em back [at risk of exposure]?
5. Should we tell all the volunteers working in Africa that they a) cannot come home, b) can only come home if they don't have symptoms but must go
into quarantine to prove they're not infected [Even though just one infected person in the group is likely to infect everyone else], or c) isolate
each individual to see what happens, then treat anyone who is infected?
6. IF Ebola comes to America, should we a) isolate individual Americans who have been exposed or are infected, b) isolate communities where someone
might have been exposed, or c) quarantine every American who is not immune to Ebola?

It’s the biggest outbreak ever of Ebola,... The virus is spreading out of control, according to all the experts involved, and there is no clear end
in sight.

The casualties include health care workers on the front lines, most recently an American doctor and a hygienist colleague working for charities, and
Dr. Sheik Umar Khan, the doctor leading the fight in Sierra Leone, who died.

So there must be a cast of thousands in there, deploying equipment, medications and vaccines, and dispensing advice, right?

Wrong.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has sent 12 people. ...

They’re not treating patients — they’re providing advice.

What about the World Health Organization? That’s a big international group. (but) ... Cutbacks in international investment have forced WHO to
slash budgets. [and resources, and staff]

The rest is being covered by nonprofits, and the affected countries' health departments, which are not even close to being equipped to handle an
outbreak like this.

The epidemic has highlighted a lack of resources, preparation and infrastructure at both the regional and international levels. ...

....Border closures and the shutting down of hospitals underscore the governments’ inability to respond to the epidemic. Were the state better
equipped to deal with the outbreak, anyone coming into contact with a presumed or confirmed case could be identified and isolated. The severe health
worker shortage impedes capacity to do so.

Given the shortage of health workers, it is imperative that governments protect the few responders they have on the front lines. Failure to provide
health workers with protective gear and adequate pay undermines the ability to curb the spread of the virus. The infection of health care providers
reduces the number of personnel available to treat patients, but there are also follow-on impacts: Health workers will be wary of going to work, for
example. For example, lab technicians went on strike in mid-July after the government failed to follow through on promised hazard pay for those
working at Sierra Leone’s only Ebola-testing facility.

Governments cannot effectively ramp up their capacity to provide care overnight — particularly not during the throes of the worst Ebola epidemic.
But they can improve their response by providing for those who are on the front lines and by shunning dramatic but empty gestures such as
criminalization of health care avoidance or border closures.

How would you know if you have the immunity to Ebola? Is there some sort of test? Those who have reactions to the flu virus usually have a reaction
to the vaccine. But there is no vaccine for Ebola to use as a test. If you took the live virus as a test it could create a problem. Maybe the
excretions (aflotoxins)the virus create could be used to see if we have an immune response to it.

Could someone with immunity be a carrier if they lived symbiotically with the virus? This can happen with bacteria and fungus like MRSA

I am reacting to the fear-mongering - no one has immunity to Ebola (except maybe a few Africans) - and the questions I ask lead to unthinkable
Draconian conundrums. imho It's meant to be a coyote type of heads up humor. However, seems like no one is reading the questions or if they are,
they're not getting it.

So - please - if my humor if so dry as to be impenetrable, please delete the thread. Also, it just might be too badly written to be what I wanted it
to be. Was po'd, didn't sit on it.

originally posted by: buddha
Sighs!
Look at all the things in the wolrd killing a LOT more people.
and you worry over this?

No, I worry about people acting in fear and doing really stupid things. ...The poll is a device - about implications - taking things to their
ridiculous-but-predictable end so people will think about where they are going if they start from where they are.

I am reacting to the fear-mongering - no one has immunity to Ebola (except maybe a few Africans) - and the questions I ask lead to unthinkable
Draconian conundrums. imho It's meant to be a coyote type of heads up humor. However, seems like no one is reading the questions or if they are,
they're not getting it.

So - please - if my humor if so dry as to be impenetrable, please delete the thread. Also, it just might be too badly written to be what I wanted it
to be. Was po'd, didn't sit on it.

How would you know if you have the immunity to Ebola? Is there some sort of test?

Yes. If after 21 days of quarantine you don't show any signs of fever (first indication) then you probably haven't contracted the virus.

It is the only way to be sure. Even if testing negative by culture of your blood you may still develop symptoms within the 21 day period. Thats
because of limiting variables like individual immune response, age, health and adaptability of the virus to our personal makeup. Since it is very
time consuming to culture your blood everyday, the simple fall back is to quarantine you and wait for the twenty one days to pass.

About that 21 days of quarantine. what do we do? Lock up everyone that wants to fly out of these countries for 21 days "just to be sure"?

Impractical. Imagine the riots. At some point roadblocks and armed guards will become necessary (potentially) if this is not checked. Ever read The
Stand? Stephen King did his homework. In his "Novel" the city of New York tried to close bridges and blockade tunnels but masses of infected people
rushed the barriers anyway and thats how it gets out in the extreme of those scenarios. Mass panic surges ahead of the wave of contagion carrying
infected people along with it.

Africa is not there yet, but will experience this kind of containment problem if this continues.

The outbreak is like the virus in the body. It doubles and doubles and doubles until consuming the whole. In the beginning this is tolerable on some
level but there is a tipping point.

I have been saying this all along on every thread about Ebola I encounter. I will continue to do so until they turn the number of cases back to
zero.

Its not 'negative' to enlighten people about the dangers and you can dismiss it or call doom porn all you want. The truth is currently eating people
alive and shows no signs of remission (yet0.

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
They really should not be bringing anyone infected with ebola into the U.S. I live in Atlanta and it horrifies me that they are doing this. They've
lost their bloody minds.

A million stars for you. The people in charge are downplaying the seriousness of this outbreak.

This disease has a high kill rate and can be contracted very easily through contact with blood.

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